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Steakhouse boss gets the chop over tax

The boss of a Hampshire steakhouse has been banned from running companies for six years after submitting inaccurate information to the tax authorities for several years, following an Insolvency Service investigation

14 Jan 2020

Pat Sweet

The Rancho Steak House (Fareham) Ltd was incorporated in January 2013 and traded as a licenced restaurant in Fareham.

Director Mohamed Uddin, from Portsmouth, was found to have failed to submit accurate information to the tax authorities over a three-year period. He under-declared more than £42,000 worth of VAT contributions between December 2013 and August 2017.

This omission resulted in the company making additional profits, which meant the restaurateur should have paid increased corporation tax contributions totalling more than £27,000.

Uddin’s misconduct was investigated after the Official Receiver was appointed as liquidator of Rancho Steak House (Fareham) in December 2018. This followed a winding up petition submitted by one the company’s creditors.

During their enquiries, investigators from the Insolvency Service also discovered that the company owed a further £21,000 in tax on loans to the directors, while also failing to pay outstanding penalties issued by the tax authorities.

Dave Elliott, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: ‘It was not a one-off event when Mohamed Uddin failed to submit accurate information to the tax authorities but something he continued to do over several years, depriving the exchequer of statutory tax contributions.

‘This disqualification means that Mohamed Uddin will not be able to run a limited company for six years and this will help to protect the tax authorities from future losses.’